To see God face-to-face you must be wide awake

I regularly visit Trinidad, the Caribbean's economic hub. The USA, or President Bush to be precise, announced last week that Trinidad would no longer be eligible to receive financial aid as he considered it a rich country. It has oil and being the economic hub of the Caribbean, one can term it to be not a very poor country. But even in this supposedly rich county, just like we have it in other rich countries, not everyone owns a car. Many people in Trinidad own cars, but more do not. However, this is a special country that places the interest of its not so rich people very high on the agenda.

The rich stretch out in their cars as they go to work, parading some of the latest models, while those who cannot afford to own cars have to fight for space either on the government provided public buses, or the privately owned matatus. However in Trinidad they do not call them matatus. They call them maxi taxis. They are so called because salon cars (four passengers) are also allowed to operate as matatus. These are called communal taxis. Then there are those one-passenger taxis which charge high rates and only operate from designated areas.

Trinidad has some of the worst traffic jams that I have known. These traffic jams are caused not by bad driving as is the case with Nairobi, but due to the fact that there are too many vehicles on the roads. The result is that a lot of people wake up too early to go to work so as to avoid the jams. My Trini (that is what we call the people of Trinidad) friend, Allan Christopher, is always in his office by 6:30 am. But what about the poor people who have to use the maxi taxis? No problem, as the government has set aside a road which is called the 'priority bus route' meaning that only maxi taxis can use it, and a few privileged vehicles which must have special passes to use it. Other motorists have to fight out for space on the other overcrowded roads.

When I am in Trinidad I prefer to use the maxi taxis for they will take you to your destination on time and you will never get late due to traffic jams. People without cars only get late to work if they have overslept. What I have noted is that all the maxi taxis have similar signs posted on the inside, reminding passengers not to smoke, eat or drink while on the maxi taxis. I felt that was a well-thought polite message, until I saw one which had an addition. Apart from the reminder not to smoke, eat or drink, it had a fourth one – not to sleep.

That kind of interested me and since I was in the front seat, I asked the driver why he felt that people should not sleep on his maxi taxi. He said to me: "Some people sleep on the bus and when you get to their destination, they are still asleep and they end up going to my final destination. When they wake up at the final destination, they refuse to pay the extra amount incurred by the excess journey, and then they demand to be taken back to their destination at no charge. I lose twice and that is why every passenger must be fully awake."

The driver's narrative brought back some memories of my days as I grew up in the town perched at 6161 feet above the sea level, yet it was on the floor of the Rift Valley. As was like any other day in our action packed schedule, this day we went to the railway station at about 4:00 pm when the upper-class passenger train from Nairobi to Kampala would stop at our station. Passengers in the first and second class, and mostly Indians used to give us Indian foods which we relished as much as our parents detested the habit which they termed as begging. To us, we saw it as receiving and we did not feel ashamed of receiving what had been given to us.

On this particular day, after the train had pulled out of the station, we saw a strange old man standing on the other side of the railway line, which did not have a platform. We gazed in his direction and because of that he asked us whether we knew Kĩmwaki's home (not his real name). Two of Kĩmwaki's sons were with us. They came forward and he said to them that he was their father's friend and that he had come from Maji Mazuri. We chuckled because we knew that the train was going to Maji Mazuri on its way to Kampala and we could not comprehend how he could be coming from a town where the train had not even reached. Having seen our dilemma he said: "I actually came on the morning train from Kampala, but when it arrived here, I was asleep and did not wake up until it arrived in Nakuru. So, I disembarked and had to wait for this one going to Kampala to bring me back. They charged me for travelling from Nakuru to here even though it was not my mistake that I had fallen asleep because the Gacherũ (ticket examiner) should have awoken me."

I therefore do not blame the maxi taxi driver in Trinidad who ensures that his passengers do not sleep. However, Tanzanian songstress and soloist with the New Life Crusade Choir of Tabata, Dar es Salaam, Ms Neema Mwaipopo, looks at life just the way passengers on a matatu, bus or even a train should do to avoid going past their destinations. Others are not as lucky for they even end up sleeping while at the bus stop and so when the matatu arrives, they miss it because they were fast asleep.



Neema is not only a great soloist as she has portrayed her prowess as she guides her members in the song Sipati Picha, but is also the writer of its lyrics. When asked why she chose that title for the song, which she wrote three years ago, she said that she was trying to visualise how things will be when Jesus will come back to take those that are His. She was guided by the Scriptures in Matthew 24:41 where the Bible talks of two women who would be grinding and one would be taken away and the other left behind. Although the scriptures do not state that the one left behind was physically asleep, but we could say that she was indeed spiritually asleep because she had not prepared for Jesus' second coming.

It also reminds me of events that took place in Nairobi about three or so months ago, when the Internal Security Permanent Secretary Cyrus Gituai ended up confessing that the police were outsmarted by the resurgent Mŭngiki gangs who had tipped the public that they would strike at 5:00 am, but ended up striking at 3:00 am causing mayhem in the city and leaving the entire police force flatfooted. The training the police guys undergo prepares them to be on the alert 24 hours, but here they became alert at 5:00 am after Mŭngiki had struck and damage already done.

In the song Sipati Picha, apart from the message Neema Mwaipopo has given in its lyrics, it has a melody that takes the listener to a higher level of enjoyment. Arrangement of the music is also by Neema, and the choir members have executed it in a forceful and elaborate way. There are only two men in the choir, and from their movements, it is good to report that there were only two of them and not more, as they have been completely outclassed by their female folks, so much so that they appear almost (but not quite) flatfooted.

Sipati Picha is very well choreographed and according to Neema, the style is called 'South Style'. Playing the organ is Paul Sagenge who keeps the choir members on their toes from the opening of the song to the end. Neema, who is also the choir teacher, has some body movements that actually 'talk'. She appears very convincing as she says that she looks forward to meeting the Lord face to face. I asked her why there was footage of her in a swimming pool and her answer was: "I was swimming so as to get the picture of the joy that I will experience in heaven. I also love swimming." I, also, guess that it is her way of ensuring that she remains alert as it is hard to fall asleep while in a swimming pool that has cold water. The New Life Crusade Choir, which is made up of members from different denominations is a special choir. Their song Sipati Picha deserves full marks and is therefore awarded our five green stars. Keep it up Neema Mwaipopo – you will never miss the train to heaven and neither will you pass the destination.